Moment gun-for-hire caught in his socks is slammed against caravan by armed police

This is the moment a gun thug was arrested in his socks after four months on the run.

Police swooped on Tony Kelly as he laid low in a North Wales caravan park following a 'sophisticated' shooting .

That attack left a man with a bullet lodged near his spine after shots were fired at a home linked to a notorious gangland figure.

Kelly, along with fellow 'guns-for-hire' Bryan Thomas and Phillip Manning, drove to Salford from Merseyside on May 22 of last year.

Police arrest Tony Kelly, jailed over a gun attack, at a caravan park in North Wales. Image: North West Regional Organised Crime Group (liverpool echo)

They pulled up outside a home in the Ordsall area and opened fire.

Three shots were fired at the property , with one bullet careering off a door and striking a man - lodging near his spine.

He was left fighting for his life but has since recovered.

The home was that of Stephen Britton, said to be the boss of a gang called the A Team .

That gang has been linked to a vicious feud that has claimed lives on Merseyside and in Greater Manchester over recent years.

Britton was not at the property at the time.

Tony Kelly, 27 and of HMP Manchester, was jailed for 16-and-a-half years after admitting wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. Image: Greater Manchester Police (liverpool echo)

Detectives from Greater Manchester Police used CCTV from the area to trace the gun thugs , picking them up one-by-one over the following months.

Thomas, who has links to Formby and Kirkby , was arrested nine weeks later when armed police stormed a home in Huyton to end a brutal kidnapping and torture plot that he was involved in.

Manning was arrested in the July of last year at an address in St Helens.

Last among the three was Kelly, who is pictured here with his face planted against a caravan park after armed officers swooped on the 27-year-old in October.

All three offered no comment under interview - but admitted being involved in the shooting and fleeing in a white Volkswagen Golf GTI detectives had identified through CCTV.

Bryan Thomas, 19 and of HMP Forest Bank but who has links to Kirkby and Formby, was jailed for his role in a shooting in Salford and a kidnap in Huyton. Image: Merseyside Police (liverpool echo)

Philip Manning, 31 and of HMP Wakefield, was jailed for 16 and a half years after he admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. Image: Greater Manchester Police (liverpool echo)

Kelly, Manning, 31, and Thomas, 19, admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Manning, of HMP Wakefield, and Kelly, of HMP Manchester, were each sentenced to 16-and-a-half years in prison.

Thomas, who was also sentenced for his role in the kidnap, was jailed for 17 years with a four-year extended licence.

Julian Nutter, defending dad-of-two Kelly, said he had had an "unfortunate background" and expressed remorse "not only to his family but to his victim and his family".